The legendary Pakistan fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar believes India has found a suitable replacement for the former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni. Taking to his Youtube channel, Akhtar said that Manish Pandey can be a good replacement for Dhoni in the limited-overs cricket.

Manish Pandey

After India’s 2-1 series win over Australia on Sunday, Akhtar said, “Hindustan ko akhir Dhoni ka replacement mil gya. India has finally got Dhoni’s replacement. They have found a good fit in Manish Pandey. Shreyas Iyer too looks a complete player and these add depth to India’s batting.”

Dhoni has not played for India since the 2019 World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand. He recently was not included in the BCCI central contract list for October 2019-September 2020 period.

Talking about the same, Shreyas Iyer and Pandey, Akhtar said, “These players have played a lot in the IPL, they know how to handle pressure, they do not care about big names and hence, end up playing important innings.”

MS Dhoni

Pandey couldn’t contribute much with the bat in the three ODIs as the top-order comprising of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan did a phenomenal job for the Indian team after the Men in Blue faced a drubbing in Mumbai. However, he grabbed the limelight for his spectacular fielding skills in the series. In the Rajkot ODI, Pandey took a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss David Warner.

Team India will now be locking horns with the Blackcaps in New Zealand for the complete tour. The tour will comprise of as many as 5 Twenty-20 Internations (T20Is), three One-Day Internationals (ODIs), and a couple of Test matches. With the Indian squad for the T20I series already announced, the ODI and Test squads are yet to be announced.